


Crawled from Eden

by Esudeath



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I want more Jesse and Lena friendship but thats just me, mention of minor death, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esudeath/pseuds/Esudeath
Summary: If you told me McCree and Genji weren't beefing when they first had to work together you're a liar and I will rewrite it
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Genji Shimada
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Crawled from Eden

**Author's Note:**

> No relationship only angry bonding

McCree didn't say anything on the ride back  
His hat was tipped forward, blocking his eyes that Genji knew were shut closed.

There was causality on the way there. A small boy, no older then thirteen shot by the gang members who escaped Genji's wrath.

There was no warning, no breath that McCree could catch as he held the boy tight and sang something foreign to Genji's ears. 

There was no funeral, with no parents to find they'd buried the child under a willow tree off the bank of a river they found.

There was no sound, save for the shift of Genji's body as he checked for dents and scratches. But what scared him most was the lack of noise, the absence of McCree's snide comments, the sound of him fiddling with his gun or even the shuffle of his boots. There was nothing. 

And maybe if Genji looked deep inside him, to the old him, he'd be crying silently and doing his best to honor that boy. But he hardly knew him and everyone is always in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens.  
Another voice in his head tells him that's awful, but he shakes it off before he can really dwell on it. 

The ships sinks into the base with a low thrum and McCree starts up like an old car. Hat still over his face as the hatch opens and Angela is the first at the door, eyes instantly on Genji as if making sure her new toy didn't break.

"How'd the mission-" she trailed as McCree walked past her, not even dipping his hat in recognition. "go?" She finished, looking to Genji again with confusion. 

"Did everything go as planned? Did you find those pesky people?" She walked alongside Genji, giving him enough space as they headed for the same location. After each fight it was mandatory that he get a checkup; no matter how unscathed, or pissed off or unmotivated. Angela would hunt him down if need be with the help of Doctor O'Deorain.

"Three escaped us and when I didn't catch them in time, they had shot a young boy passing by." Genji whispered. 

Angela's head was tilted to the floor as she held tightly onto the hem of her lab coat. Genji opted to look somewhere else as she sighed and pushed stray hairs out of her sight. 

"I hope," she said, turning a corner with him towards the dark lab. "one day, I can aid the both of you to never let that kind of thing happen again."  
There was a bite in her sentence that made Genji just nod his head. He did his best to think on his own actions but couldn't shake the off feeling of watching Angela move in silence. Her eye bags were more prominent and there were wisps of gray hairs along her hairline. But he could see the anger in her clear eyes, feel that agitation as she wrote and wrote on Genji's health before dispatching him. 

As the door shut he wondered if he should turn back and tell Angela to take care of herself. But as quick as the thought came, he was already walking down the corridor back to his room. 

He flexed his fingers on the way back, savoring the stretch and feel he could finally have. It felt rough, but being able to feel his hair, to feel his fist hitting another person or the weight of his sword slashing through an enemy was reassuring. 

But it wasn't enough yet, he needed to fully feel the swing in his arms. To register the look in the peoples faces to-

"He was so young, I couldn't take it." A small voice whispered around the corner. "I couldn't even say nothin'.." 

His feet were lighter as he stopped in his tracks. The sound of a gun being loaded and reloaded made the most noise. A soft murmuring came after and the sound of a body sitting down. 

"It wasn't your fault." Tracer said, and Genji almost believed the lie. He saw the bullet moving, he saw the boy , but even as all his instincts screamed to hit it away, his body didn't. He knew if the reaction time was better he could have deflected it, better yet, he could've taken it. But his body was new, he was new at this. 

"Liar" McCree grumbled and Tracer laughed, her voice as jovial as her demeanor. 

"You sometimes need a lie to get a truth, its how I get through the day." She said and with a light dusting of her pants got up. "Take the night to just, relax and as horrible as it sounds..." 

Genji could hear the smile falter on Tracer's face, "Try to forget about it, you won't do the future any good by dwelling on the past." 

She was gone in a blink and all Genji could hear was McCree's deep sigh as he stood up to crack his back.  
"How long do you plan to stand back there Shimada." 

The Ninja stood perfectly still as McCree rounded the corner with worn, wet eyes. 

"I didn't mean to-" he began, but froze as the other man shook his head and began to approach him. 

"If we mean to be partners." McCree said, voice heavy with exhaustion and warning. "No eve's dropping on anyone." 

Genji could smell the smoke, even worse, see what was stuck on his beard as he got close. Too close. He shoved back instead of saying something he'd regret and didn't wait for a reaction from the cowboy. He could feel his body heating up with the need to fight as he reached his room. 

He knew McCree was bound up tight, but nothing tempted him more then an face in his personal space waiting to be hit. 

"I should've hit him.." Genji whispered to himself in the bathroom mirror, then he splashed his face with cold water. 

×

There was a stakeout the next month and McCree had taken to shaving his beard off more often. It made him look younger then Genji thought possible, maybe even younger than him. 

"Reyes how long you plan on havin' us here on our asses?" McCree spoke into his earpiece piece with eyes still trained on their location. 

"As long as I damn well need you there." Their commanders voice came a second later before silence came back. 

The red glow from Genji's body acted as a small heater in the weather. Even with McCree's reaction towards it, he said nothing. Genji wished he could turn the thing off just to watch him freeze. 

"Don't ya think we'd be more affective if we could capture em' after seeing em'?" McCree said suddenly.  
It made Genji blink twice before responding.  
"That would be stupid." 

He knew he was right, they were young, inexperienced and untested. Tracer and Reyes could do that, but the unstable cyborg and rowdy teenage cowboy was a hell of a bet. 

"Well you're no fun." McCree scoffed. 

"And you have no self control." Genji snarled back. 

"Says the one who gets snappy after being greeted too."

Genji fumed at that, felt the red of his body get bloodier. "I try to-" 

McCree held a gloved hand up in front of Genji's face and he really felt the need to hit him.  
"Shut up."

"Mccree get your hand out of my face before I-" 

"I said, shut up." McCree was pointing behind the broken window to a pair of people walking right towards the back entrance of their target location. 

Oh, Genji thought and pressed his earpiece to tell Reyes someone had moved in. 

"What good watch dogs you are." Reyes chuckled later. "Thanks for actually listening to me and not running off like last time Jesse." 

The name rolled off the tongue the same way a parent might scold their child. It made Genji a little nostalgic, but also sick and anxious. Maybe it was why he stuck with calling everyone, except Angela, by their other names. 

Sparrow, his mind wandered and he nearly tripped before Mccree caught him by the shoulder. 

He gave a curt nod as thanks before hurrying back to the small ship they took. On the way back, Genji purged the word Sparrow as hard as he could from his mind. 

×  
In the past year Genji felt his reaction time get better. He asked Mccree to test him, as hard as it was, in the past summer and he had. 

First there were warning throws, simple things like a rock or often, Mccree's hat were caught. Then it was food, apples, oranges and Genji wondered if Mccree knew he couldn't eat anything. 

"You know I can't consume food right?" Genji caught the orange that was hurled at his head and turned it over in his hand. He could feel the soft skin beneath his fingers and how it molded to his touch. 

Mccree had looked up a little startled at that with a guilty look that made Genji snort. 

"I honestly thought you only liked to eat alone and that's why I never saw ya in the dining hall.."  
He explained as he finished polishing Peacemaker.  
"Honest mistake, I've been hurlin' fruits at ya thinking you'd eat em later." 

Genji shook his head as he began to carve the fruit open. Mccree went back to cleaning his gear, even to polishing his hat with some kind of stain that made it darker. 

"If you don't mind me asking," Mccree said. "what was your favorite food before." 

There was a pause in Genji's hand as he stared at the fruit then to Mccree. 

"You don't gotta answer, it was mostly curiosity-" Mccree said as he turned back to his gun, turning it over and over as if looking for invisible dust. 

"It was, watermelon I think." Genji said anyway. He could recall the way his father had cut it for him and his brother and that he always got the larger piece, even if it was too big for him. The memory stung a little, the phantom feel of the fruits juice running down his chin and how sweet it tasted on a hot summers day. 

The cowboy just nodded in understanding before going to dust his boots off. "Good choice."


End file.
